Deported Guatemalan man brought back to US by Trump admin after court ruling

A deported Guatemalan man was brought back to U.S. by the Trump administration after a court ruling ordered the government to let him receive due process.

The man is identified in court filings as O.C.G., and is bound for an immigration detention facility in Arizona, according to his attorney, Trina Realmuto, as he awaits further immigration proceedings ordered by Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Massachusetts, Politico reported.

In February, an immigration judge blocked O.C.G.'s deportation over his fear of persecution in Guatemala. However, the Trump administration then deported him to Mexico.

In a class action lawsuit, O.C.G. said he was never asked by immigration officials about whether he had any similar fear of persecution in Mexico, where he says he has been raped and targeted for being gay. Thus, he accepted Mexico's offer to be deported to Guatemala, where he says he has been living in hiding ever since.

The Trump administration initially countered O.C.G.'s account with a sworn statement from an immigration official who said that he was given an opportunity to say he feared deportation to Mexico, but said he didn't have any concerns. Officials later retracted their claim, saying it was based on an erroneous note in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement database.

Murphy then ordered that the Department of Homeland Security facilitate O.C.G.'s return to the U.S.

DHS criticized Murphy for issuing a sweeping ruling that blocks deportations of foreign nationals to a so-called “third country” that they are not originally from.

“America’s asylum system was never intended to be used as a de facto amnesty program or a catch-all, get-out-of-deportation-free card,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, calling Mexico a “safe third option” for O.C.G.

“Yet, this federal activist judge ordered us to bring him back, so he can have an opportunity to prove why he should be granted asylum to a country that he has had no past connection to. The Trump administration is committed to returning our asylum system to its original intent.”